The W Life Cycle Model and Associated Methodology for Corporate Web Site Development

Abstract

The last few years witnessed the increasing internal and external use of the Internet by organizations. Web sites grew in sophistication from conventional sites composed of a simple collection of Web pages for public relations or marketing to complex Web information systems dealing with business-to-customer transactions or business-to-business networks. However, most organizations still do not have a formal process of Web site development, and corporate Web sites are often developed in an unorganized and uncoordinated fashion. The results of this chaotic situation include slow delivery, conflicting standards, discrepancies with respect to corporate objectives, and redundant development efforts. To help alleviate this situation, this paper presents the W software life cycle model for corporate web site development along with an associated methodology to guide Web development groups in their endeavors. The proposed process model and methodology are based on insights gleaned by studying development projects for three types of corporate Web sites: intranets, Web-presence sites, and transactional sites. However, because Web information systems are more complex, the article also provides recommendations for how the methodology can be adapted to handle these types of applications better.